Nov 23 2009
Now Hear This: Taking control of your vocal image for effective speaking
As I’ve said before, your voice is a powerful tool. Using it with awareness and skill is essential to your credibility and persuasiveness as a speaker. The sound of your voice—your “vocal image”—can imply such things as friendliness or hostility, tolerance or prejudice, and weakness or strength. Many people fail in their communication simply because their vocal image does not align with their message.
Practical Application: If you want to discover the nature of your vocal image, make a recording of yourself. Record yourself talking naturally in a normal conversation. If possible, also record yourself giving a short presentation. Listen to the recording and consider the following three components of your vocal image.
Pitch:
Pitch is not determined by your volume, but rather by the notes you use when you speak. Yes, we use notes when speaking just as we do when singing. If you use a lot of variety in the pitch of your voice, people are likely to perceive you as friendly. A variety of pitch also suggests flexibility and openness to others’ ideas. A voice with less pitch variance comes across as more demanding and authoritative. Listen to your recording and determine if you have a varied pitch. Does it align with your intended message? Experiment with increasing and decreasing your pitch until it aligns with your message.
By the way, don’t take my word for it! As a speaker, you can really benefit by reading Six Minutes, and the post on Vocal Variety, where Pitch is a big component of success for Toastmasters!!
Speed or Pace:
Listen to your recording and think about the speed of your delivery. If you speak quickly, you may be seen as assertive. If you speak too quickly, you may seem nervous. On the other hand, a slow delivery can be perceived as boring. If you find that you speak too fast, force yourself to slow down and breathe more often. If you speak too slowly, try to walk with purpose and energy while practicing your speech. A technique that many experienced speakers use is to accent their normal speed with slow speech. In doing this, the words which are spoken slowly are emphasized. Consider how your speed of delivery aligns with the message you want to deliver.
Cadence:
Cadence is the way that you end your sentences. Generally, a “feminine cadence” goes up in pitch at the end of a sentence. When pitch goes down at the end of a sentence, it’s a “masculine cadence.” A feminine cadence invites a response and seems open to others’ ideas. A masculine cadence makes a demand or a point and may sound less open to others’ ideas. Effective speakers use both appropriately. If people often interrupt you, you may want to add a more masculine cadence to your speech. Similarly, if others seldom contribute to your discussions, you may be overusing the masculine cadence. Try introducing a female cadence when you would like input from others.
By the way, I really enjoy reading “The Eloquent Woman,” a blog for women on public speaking. The author, Denise Graveline, often discusses gender differences in communication from a speaker’s perspective. Check it out!
Record and study the natural qualities of your vocal image. Consider your pitch, speed, and cadence. Don’t forget to ask others to give you feedback so you can learn how your voice affects them. Once you become aware of your vocal image, you can begin to better align it with your message and become a more credible and persuasive speaker.
One Response to “Now Hear This: Taking control of your vocal image for effective speaking”
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First, I am looking forward to your article on helping us executives with our quarterly earnings calls. Our challenge is exacerbated by two factors: we do not see our audience (in fact we are not even sure there is anyone at the other end of the transmission!) and because of disclosure rules we need to be careful about what we say – and hence we tend to read. A very poor combination! Your help is so welcome.
I want to make several points on your excellent note on analyzing our speech pattern. I think integral to the components that you listed is the use of silence. Where we pause and for how long is a wonderful tool to combine with both the cadence and pitch you described, all serving to make the words we use more effective. In this respect, it is good to listen to some good teachers, and we have two that stand out for me in the last few years. One is Tony Blair. His power comes from the mastery of his words. His ability to capture complex issues in clear simple language saved the day several times in the last decade. But the person that for me tops them all is our very own Barak Obama. In addition to a remarkable mastery of the language, his use of pauses is masterful. Notice sometime not only where he pauses but how he enters the next sentence. His emphasis thus comes not just from the cadence at the end of a sentence but from the vocal power at the beginning of the next.